Webber, it seems, did a good job at being a road block for the 6 or so cars behind him, which is exactly how you're supposed to win at Monaco. Well done Mark!

Anyway, I was watching the Indy 500, and Jean Alesi was running in a Lotus! Unfortunately, they were black flagged for going too slow. You'd think they would have made that decision in quali, rather than the race, but it seems a little political (if the Lotus's had not entered the race, then the race would have been 2 cars short for the first time since 1947).

The problem is these shitty tires. Drivers don't pass people - cars don't pass people - tire management is the only thing that matters. Everything else, besides stupid mistakes by the drivers and pit crew, is irrelevant. Have a better driver? Doesn't matter. Have a faster car? Doesn't matter.

People say shitty tires create passing opportunities - but it's bullshit. I'd rather have a system where the stewards are given a choke button to reduce HP on the engines of cars they choose. That way, slow, shitty cars wouldn't hold up the faster cars (kovalainen vs button) but it wouldn't rob the fans of legitimately fast drivers in legitimately fast cars from making legitimately good passes. Still bullshit when it does happen, but it doesn't have to happen when it actually matters.

Every DRS pass, every KERS pass is fake. It's not real. It isn't racing. It's a time trial with everybody on the same circuit. F1 should be more UFC and less WWE.

Want to make the racing good again? Ban multi-element aerodynamic parts. Bring back ground effects and blown diffusers. Completely derestrict tire regulations, except to force drivers to start the race on the tires they perform their qualifying lap on. Bring back mid-race refueling. There will be less passing, but the passes that do happen will actually matter. The penalty from dirty air will be significantly reduced - tires, ground effects, and blown diffusers don't give a shit what the air is doing, and with single element aerodynamic parts, those parts won't have very much downforce to lose to begin with._________________My political bias.

the tires are great (as is DRS), since they got those soft tires and drs there is more overtaking then in the whole decade before. At least something is happening - on sensible courses.

Before they forced Pirelli to make those tires, ALL races were like Monaco. Qualifying-crashes = End result. Today you get some changes, today the drivers have to be a lot more alert about their surroundings.

Those are steps in the right direction.

And they are not 'fake'. The driver still needs skill, the driver in front still can defend. They offset the fact that the car behind usually has no chance because of the turbulences._________________

AidanJT wrote:

Libertardian denial of reality is wholly unimpressive and unconvincing, and simply serves to demonstrate what a bunch of delusional fools they all are.

Certainly he needs some skill, I sure as fuck couldn't do it. That isn't the point. The point is that Felipe Massa is, for all intents and purposes, a roadblock, and people can't get around him despite the fact that he's absolutely terrible.

energyman76b wrote:

They offset the fact that the car behind usually has no chance because of the turbulences.

You're absolutely right; this is the problem of F1. With the regulations the way they are, most of the grip is a result of the aerodynamic performance of various parts of the car that are most susceptible to turbulence. The front/rear wing, the front plate of the floor of the car. If you put turbulence through these sections, the downforce disappears, and grip disappears with it.

KERS/DRS/unpredictable tires are a bandaid. They create situations where one car can be fantastically better than the car in front. There is no defending against a car with 80 extra HP, better tires, and significantly reduced drag. There simply isn't.

We can either keep sticking bandaids on, or we can fix the actual problem. The problem is the over-reliance on parts that are most susceptible to turbulence; the wings. Take these parts, create very tight restrictions that prevent significant downforce on these parts, and deregulate everything else. If the turbulence penalty went away, because the tires are both grippy and durable, because the aerodynamics depend on effects like ground effects and blown diffusers that are independent of turbulence, the need for artificial KERS and artificial DRS and artificial tires wear would go away.

I'm not saying the state of formula 1 now is worse than it would be if you simply removed KERS and DRS and allowed tires that wore down more predictably. I'm saying that the solutions to the core problems of F1 involving fixing the core problems, not go-fast buttons and artificial handicaps._________________My political bias.

I'm watching the indycar race in Detroit. The asphalt is coming up off the track, and so they had to stop the race for 2 hours. They've tried to cement the holes (I think), and they're trying to run 15 more laps to give what would be considered full race distance._________________Jesus Could Be Their Candidate and the Republicans Would Still Lose

"The world economic situation and that of Europe is very serious and F1 cannot ignore the fact," he said.
"We cannot lose any more time. We need to tackle urgently, and with determination, the question of costs."

Interesting, because Ferrari have been historically against any kind of salary cap used to cut costs.

Another interesting story

Gary Anderson wrote:

How Alonso and Vettel could have beaten Hamilton in Canada
Alonso and Vettel slipped back from second and third respectively to fifth and fourth in the closing laps because they were trying to make a one-stop strategy work.

Alonso was a sitting duck in the last five laps as his tyres wore out completely.

He lost places to Lotus's Romain Grosjean, Sauber's Sergio Perez and finally Vettel, as the German recovered from making a late second stop for fresh tyres with seven laps to go.

"The world economic situation and that of Europe is very serious and F1 cannot ignore the fact," he said.
"We cannot lose any more time. We need to tackle urgently, and with determination, the question of costs."

Interesting, because Ferrari have been historically against any kind of salary cap used to cut costs.

They don't really need to, the company is solid, but everybody complains that pilots and footballer earn too much and so much money is wasted in sport competitions while the rest of the population sees their income reduced by the tax increases .... Montezemolo is often cited as a possible Italian PM next year, just early electoral campaign promises _________________Truck!!
A posse ad esse non valet consequentia
Πάντα ῥεῖ

It is possible, after years of Berlusconism when industrial growth was neglected and problems solved with a TV show, now it is again important. He might be the right person, never involved in bribery or corruption trials, capable ... maybe it can become the next Berlusconi._________________Truck!!
A posse ad esse non valet consequentia
Πάντα ῥεῖ

if anyone is interested, I'm currently listening to Le Mans. Audi is running a diesel hybrid, which uses a KERS system.

Quote:

The R18 e-tron quattro is a hybrid version of the R18 ultra, utilising a Williams Hybrid Power designed flywheel accumulator system for energy storage which delivers 500 kJ to the front wheels via an electric motor, giving the car four (quattro) wheel drive. The systems, as per the regulations, is only available at speeds above 120 km/h (75 mph). The car is fitted with a smaller 58 litre fuel tank.